Violence against disabled women, the Oscad report
World Disability Day, Enough! Open letter
3 December 2022
Third series of videos on Égalité, disability and inclusion
17 December 2022
mistreatment, stalking and sexual violence against disabled women is a scourge that frequently emerges in horror stories. The Observatory for security against discriminatory acts (Oscad), coordinated by the criminal police and also participated by the carabinieri, publishes a statistical report on these crimes.
Violence against disabled women, the weak points
The risk to suffer violence is greater in disabled women. In addition to physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence, as explained in the Oscad document, additional and specific forms of oppression are added such as
- drug abuse, which may consist of overdose or underdose of drugs or denial of access to essential medicines.
- the denial of essential care, which can constitute not only an inconvenience but also a danger to the physical health of the woman,
- lack of access to assistive equipment (moving crutches out of reach, removing the battery from an electric wheelchair, taking away the phone preventing the possibility of calling for help).
Symptoms to watch out for
The violence against women it is very often inflicted by those closest to the victim. Husbands, children, lovers, exes. For the disabled, the circle includes i caregiver, including operators of residential, hospitalization and care facilities. Abominations such as forced sterilization or abortion may even occur in these places.
The signals of possible abuses or violence are thus described in the Oscad report.
Physical Evidence:
- unexplained injury, pain or bruising,
- delay in seeking medical care,
- frequent hospital stays,
- excessive sedation in home care,
- stained, torn, unworn clothes, inappropriate clothing for the season,
- unexplained pregnancy,
- presence of sexually transmitted diseases,
- excessive weight loss/gain,
- poor hygiene,
- reduced intellectual or motor skills due to over/underdosing of medications,
- increase, decrease, or lack of response to medications (drugs not used as directed).
Behavioral indicators:
- extreme behavior,
- unusual fear of a particular person,
- rejection of specific environments,
- fear of intervention by the authorities,
- depression,
- sleep disorders,
- food disorders,
- excessive crying spells,
- self-harming behavior,
- significant changes in sexual behavior and attitudes,
- high level of anxiety.
300 episodes in two years
The established facts over the past two years they report
- 230 episodes of ill-treatment against family members or cohabitants (art. 572 of the criminal code) committed against women with disabilities. The case of minors with disabilities who are victims of domestic violence is frequent.
- 50 cases of sexual assault (art. 609 bis of the criminal code), also of groups (art. 609 octies of the criminal code). These crimes mostly affect women with cognitive disabilities, usually with difficulty recognizing the abuse and denouncing it.
- 21 episodes of persecutory acts (art. 612 bis of the criminal code). The crime of stalking sometimes it is committed by Partner and ex Partner, but the behaviors are also carried out by neighbors or acquaintances of the victim.
I social networks are the environment most at risk of purse seine for the purpose of obtaining images and / or videos with sexual content for extortion purposes. Blackmail can include the demand for sex under the threat of disclosing material deemed incriminating.
THEunder reporting
These stats they represent only a part of the abuses suffered by women with disabilities. Complaints are held back by shame or a sense of guilt for what happened, by the fear of being abandoned, of not being believed, and so on.
In cases of mental disabilityFurthermore, it may be difficult to recognize a sexual assault, know that you can be defended, or even be able to remember and report the facts.
Purpose, we remind you of the availability of specialized operators at anti-violence and stalking number 1522, active 24 hours a day.
Nobody feels alone
The document of the criminal police was disclosed on the occasion of world disability day, on December 3rd. And it concludes with the encouragement of the Paralympic athletes of the police force, 'so that their example can serve as a stimulus to women with disabilities who are victims of violence, so that they can react to adversity with strength and without fear or shame to ask for help'.
Julia Ghiretti, state trooper, champion swimmer. Amber Sabatini, parathlete of the Fiamme Gialle (Financial Police). Xenia Francesca Palazzo, Paralympic swimming champion of the Fiamme Azzurre (prison police).
